Unit 8: The Gilded Age 1876-1900

Vocab

Chapter 24:

Ulysses S. Grant: As president he led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate all vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery; he effectively destroyed the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. His reputation was marred by his repeated defense of corrupt appointees

Thomas Nast: Cartoonist who drew pictures of the corruption Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall were doing and led to his downfall.

Horace Greeley: Newspaper editor (founder of New York Tribune) and founder of the Liberal-Republic Party.

Roscoe Conkling: Leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party.

James G. Blaine: Republican who served as speaker of the House and in 1884 ran for election but Cleveland won.

Rutherford B. Hayes: Won the presidency in the Compromise of 1877 (end of reconstruction), reformer who began the efforts that led to civil reform.

Samuel Tilden: Lost in the election of 1876 (Hayes vs.Tilden).

James Garfield: President in the election of 1880, controversial power of president over the authority of Senatorial decisions.

Chester Arthur: After Garfield's assassination, Arthur took position in 1881 and he struggled as president but embraced the causes of civil service reform (enforcing Pendleton Civil Reform Act)

Charles Guiteau: Assassinated Garfield.

Grover Cleveland: President in 1884, only president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms, democrat that fought for conservative political reform, opposed high tariffs and imperialism

Benjamin Harrison: Republican president of 1888 and brought about McKinley tariff and Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Cheap Money: Continentals or just paper money that farmers pushed for because it could lead to more capital in circulation.

Hard/Sound Money: Federal government supported this; it was the coins and silver currency.

Gilded Age: Term coined by Mark Twain, meant a gold coating that made things appear to be prosperous when in fact it was corrupt

Spoils System: Appointing political positions in exchange for support in the form of money and public support.

Bloody-Shirt: The election of 1868 that corresponded Ulysses Grant as a confederate.

Tweed Ring: Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed led corruption with political machines in New York.

Credit Mobilier Scandal: Union Pacific Railroad construction company overestimated their cost and got money from the federal government.

Whiskey Ring: Scandal involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government officials and whiskey distillers. Involved bribes with distillers and internal revenue agents.

Resumption Act: Provided for the replacement for the Civil War fractional currency by silver coins

Crime of ’73: Gold became the only metallic standard of the United States.

Bland-Allison Act: Required U.S. treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars.

GAR: Grand Army of the Republic- Veterans of the union army who had served in the civil war

Stalwart: Member of the most patronage-oriented faction of the Untied States Republican Party

Half-Breed: Anyone who is mixed Native American and white European parentage.

Compromise of 1877: Agreement that ended Martial Law in the South and ended Reconstruction by putting Hayes in office.

Pendleton Act of 1833: Merit system that properly and justly put political positions in office through testing (no spoils system)

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Chapter 25:


Collis P. Huntington: One of the Big Four of western railroading. Built the Central Pacific Railroad.

James Hill: Headed Great Northern Railway and the Pacific Northwest.

Cornelius Vanderbilt: Philanthropist and industrialist who had wealth in shipping and railroads. (Funded universities).

Thomas Edison: Inventor of the light bulb, the newspaper, the phonograph, and applied mass production.

Andrew Carnegie: The steel magnate and used vertical integration and believed in the social gospel and white man's burden.

John D. Rockefeller: Oil industry mogul, used horizontal integration.

J.Pierpont Morgan: Corporate finance and industrial consolidation and formed General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company.

Terence v. Powderly: Founded the Knights of Labor which was a union that focused on both unskilled and skilled workers, but poorly held together

Samuel Gompers: American Federation of Labor founder, focused on only skilled workers.

Pool (not swimming): Group funding of capital that the government was against and tried to ban.

Rebate: A type of sales promotion used in marketing

Vertical integration: Controlling all steps of management from supplies to manufacturing to transportation.

Horizontal consolidation/integration: Creating monopolies and terminating small businesses by one major company.

Trust:A business entity formed to create a monopoly or fix prices.

Interlocking directorate: The practice of members of a corporate board of directors serving on the boards of multiple corporations.

Plutocracy: Rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.

Injunction: An equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing specific acts.

Union Pacific Railroad: The largest railroad network in the United States.

Central Pacific Railroad: The former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, formed part of the first "transcontinental railroad"

Wabash Case: Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce.

Bessemer Process: First inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron.

Gospel of Wealth: The Christian belief that those who had money should help the less fortunate.

Yellow Dog Contract: Agreement between employees and employers to not be in labor unions.

National Labor Union: First national labor federation, founded in 1866, led by William H. Sylvis.

Haymarket Riot: The aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration at Haymarket Square in Chicago.

American Federation of Labor: Led by Samuel Gompers, focused on skilled workers.

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Chapter 26:


Florence Kelley: Worked against sweatshops and was for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays and children's rights.

Mary Baker Eddy: Founder of Christian science.

Charles Darwin: Founded the theory of evolution, society used the idea to promote Social Darwinism.

Booker T. Washington: Believed in integration and assimilation of African Americans into white society.

William James: Scientific Method efficiency in the factory workplace.

Henry George: Wanted the "single tax" on land.

Horatio Alger: Writer who characterized "rags to riches" narratives.

Mark Twain: Writer of books like Huckleberry Finn who characterized the regional atmosphere.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Utopian feminist who used unorthodox concepts and lifestyle.

Carrie Chapman Catt: Pushed for women's suffrage.

Megalopolis: An extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of continuous metropolitan areas.

Nativism: Strong hatred toward immigrants, identified with nationalistic pro-america views

Philanthropy: Works of charity.

Yellow journalism: Exaggeration of events in media sources that led to heightened emotion.

New Immigration: From the East and South European countries.

Social Gospel: Protestant Christian intellectual movement.

Settlement house: Establishments that strove to aid struggling people, i.e. the Hull House.

Modernist: A modern thought in the arts and literature movement that led to abandoning past ideals.

Chautauqua movement: Adult education movement that brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, generally refers to a herd of clumsy writers.

Women’s Christian Temperance Union: Progressive group of women who wanted to prohibit alcohol consumption.

18th Amendment: Prohibited alcohol.

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Chapter 27:


Sitting Bull: Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to US government policies.

George A. Custer:US army, fought in the First Battle of Bull Run.

Chief Joseph: Led the Nez Perce Indian Tribe and was pushed off his land and moved to a reservation in Idaho because of the discovery of gold.

Geronimo: Prominent Native American leader of the Bendonkohe Apache who fought against Mexico and the US for their expansion into Apache tribal lands.

Joseph F. Glidden: American farmer who patented barbed wire.

James B. Weaver: Led the populist party, candidate for presidency.

Oliver H. Kelly: Father of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.

Mary Elizabeth Lease: American advocate for women's suffrage as well as temperance, best known for her work with the Populist party.

Sioux Wars: Conflicts between US and various subgroups of the Sioux people.

Apache: Collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the US.

Ghost Dance: Religious movement which was incorporate into numerous Native American belief systems.

Battle of Wounded Knee: Battle that occurred at Wounded Knee Creek.

Dawes Severalty Act: Authorized the surveying of Indian tribal land and division of allotments for individual Indians.

Comstock Lode: First major U.S. discovery of silver ore on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson. Spurred advances in mining technology.

Long Drive: Journey Indians took to cross the Great Plains.

Homestead Act: Gave applicant ownership at no cost of farmland called a "homestead" of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River.

Patrons of Husbandry: A fraternal organization for American farmers that encourages farm families to band together for their common economic and political well-being.

Granger Laws: Series of laws passed in Southern states of the U.S. after the American Civil war to regulate grain elevator, railroad freight rates and to address long and short haul discrimination.

Farmers’ Alliance: Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement amongst U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880's.

Populists: A supporter of populism, a political philosophy urging social adn politicla system change that favors the people over the elites, or favors the common people over the rich and wealthy business owners.

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Chapter 28:


Benjamin Harrison: 23rd President of 1888, his administration included the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Jacob Coxey: American politican who ran for elective office, he led a group of unemployed men who marched to D.C. to present a petition demanding that the U.S. Congress allocates funds to create jobs for the unemployed.

Eugene V. Debs: American union leader, founded the Industrial-Workers of the World and the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the U.S.A.

William Jennings Bryan: Leading American politician, dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic party, served in congress, was a devout Presbyterian, and a supporter of popular democracy.

Richard Olney: American Statesman who served as U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of State under President Grover Cleveland, used injunctions against striking workers in the Pullman strike.

William McKinley: 25th president, led nation to victory in Spanish-American war, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals.

Free Silver:Central American policy issue in the late 19th century. In favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the free coinage of silver as opposed to the less inflationary gold standard.

“Billion Dollar” Congress: Meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government.

Pension Act: Give individual's pensions when retired.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act: Increased the amount of silver the government was required to purchase every month. Passed in response to the growing complaints of farmers and miners interests.

Homestead Strike: Industrial lockout and strike which was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history.

Jim Crow Laws: State and Local Laws in the U.S. that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former confederacy.

Depression of 1893: Serious economic depression in the U.S. that was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures.

Pullman Strike: A nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that occurred in the U.S. in 1894.

Wilson-Gorman Tariff: Slightly reduced the U.S. tariff rates from the numbers set in the 1890 McKinley tariff and imposed a 2% income tax.

Cross of Gold Speech: Speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan. This address supported free silver which he believed would bring the nation prosperity.

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Significant People:

Important people to Politics/Government:

During the gilded age, politics were defined by corruption and greed. The spoils system, for the most part, took the place of appointing of government officials. Certain individuals, like Nast, worked to fight against the unjust practices and bring truth to the masses in understandable forms. The populist(people party) rose as a fight and solution against the growing problems.
  • Thomas Nast: Cartoonist who drew pictures of the corruption Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall were doing and led to his downfall
  • Horace Greeley: Newspaper editor (founder of New York Tribune) and founder of the Liberal-Republic Party
  • Rutherford B. Hayes: Won the presidency in the Compromise of 1877 (end of reconstruction), reformer who began the efforts that led to civil reform.
  • James B. Weaver: Led the populist party, candidate for presidency.
  • William Jennings Bryan: Leading American politician, dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic party, served in congress, was a devout Presbyterian, and a supporter of popular democracy.


Important people to Industry:

During the Gilded age, America was in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. The gap between the rich and poor greatly widened as the robber barons accumulated more and more wealth through monopoly and trust conquering. Smaller industries started to dissolve, as they had no chance of survival during the greedy competition. Mass production and scientific managing helped for efficient means of manufacturing and production, especially within the Railroad, automobile and steel companies. These individuals exemplified the concentration of wealth among a few key figures, and their overpowering influence over society.

  • James Hill: Headed Great Northern Railway and the Pacific Northwest.
  • Cornelius Vanderbilt: Philanthropist and industrialist who had wealth in shipping and railroads. (Funded universities).
  • Andrew Carnegie: The steel magnate and used vertical integration and believed in the social gospel and white man's burden.
  • John D. Rockefeller: Oil industry mogul, used horizontal integration.
  • J.Pierpont Morgan: Corporate finance and industrial consolidation and formed General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company


Important people to Labor/Protection of Rights:

The gilded age was a direct cause of the need for progressive reform, that came to its peak during TR's presidency in the turn of the century. Leading up to this, however, specifically during the gilded age, the nation was struggling to unite to protect rights. This is when labor unions became more and more essential to the over all wellbeing of the people. The rise of feminism civil rights of African-Americans began to gain popularity and followers.
Terence v. Powderly: Founded the Knights of Labor which was a union that focused on both unskilled and skilled workers, but poorly held together.

  • Samuel Gompers: American Federation of Labor founder, focused on only skilled workers.
  • Florence Kelley: Worked against sweatshops and was for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays and children's rights.
  • Mary Baker Eddy: Founder of Christian science.
  • Booker T. Washington: Believed in integration and assimilation of African Americans into white society.
  • Eugene V. Debs: American union leader, founded the Industrial-Workers of the World and the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the U.S.A.

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Primary Sources


external image 6a00d83451da3169e20120a722372d970b-800wi
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: The gilded age was set in the late 1800's in urban centers and growing cities.
P: Robber barons had complete control and were depicted as fat, wealthy money bags who hoarded the nation's capital within a concentrated group of individuals.
A: Nast focused his audience on the lower income class because he felt through cartoons, he could communicate his message, without people having to be able to read articles. Everyone could understand his drawings.
R: Satire mocked the ills of society and in a way it is like yellow journalism that exaggerated the message.
T: The government was worried that monopolies would take over industries
S: The threat of robber barons was prevalent and the cartoonists wanted change to occur which affected the ideology of the people.
external image Small22Jan1900.JPG
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: This was set in the gilded age in D.C.
P: Big businesses like the oil company implemented horizontal integration that took control with a monopoly/trust.
A: This cartoon was focused to the poor, lower and middle class who could be organized with a common purpose to voice the central concern.
R: Criticism of Rockefeller was high, especially during his height of his power and wealth.
T: Rockefeller is shown to have complete control over the supreme court, and his interests were not concerned in the common needs of the people.
S: The cartoon was titled "What a Funny Little Government" because during the gilded age, powerful monopolies are more powerful as corporations than the actual federal government.


external image Twas_Him.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: Urban city setting.
P: The cartoon can be connected to the whiskey ring that had corrupt dealings occuring within a small group of individuals that swindled and cheated money out of many.
A: The cartoon was centered towards the working middle class and those that were poor and struggling and feeling the effects of the corruption.
R:During the gilded age, individuals turned their backs on each other because of their own selfish desires. William Marcy "Boss Tweed" was one of the individuals and he was relentless.
T: Each person in the ring is pointing at the next because no one wanted to take blame for the corruption that was an underlying problem throughout the gilded age.
S: Illegal practices could never be traced to one person and that is what made the gilded age such a dangerous and twisted time period.
external image meltingpot1.jpg
A: An unknown cartoonist depicted the melting pot of immigrants during the gilded age.
P: Throughout the nation there was an outflow of immigrants, but many immigrants centered themselves in urban centers.
P: Nativists were growing in strength and popularity during this time and immigrants were being treated like scapegoats.
A: The people all across America were audience to this idea of a melting pot.
R: Demonstrates America's willingness to try to assimilate the different ethnicities
T: The "mother" dressed in the american flag uses a spoon to mix everyone together to try to connect and unify the country.
S: During the gilded age, more than ever, the country's people had to come together to fight against the higher level corruption
PutYourselfInHisPlaceMd.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: The setting in the cartoon shows the normal urban setting for Americans.
P: Unions sought to think about the people's daily lifestyles and bring relief and help for the people.
A: The audience was focused towards the common man, or the family man depicted in the left side cartoon.
R: The man on the right was striving to put himself in the working man's place.
T: In the Harper's Week newspaper the creators wanted society to know that both sides of the spectrum were struggling.
S: Unions of the time was the bridge to connect the workers to the employers and greatly aided the nation to
external image harpers.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: The common urban center was the center, particularly the south.
P: Racism was still prevalent in the late 1800's and with social darwinism on the rise, white people felt they were more supreme and at the advantage.
A: The northern regions vs the southern regions
R: The scale of human civilization shows a black man not outweighing the white man, and the idea of equality is within reach.
T: to represent America's ability to strive for balance, even in the midst of racism and deep-seeded prejudice.
S: The remains and lasting effects of the civil war still wore on during the time of the gilded age. The ideology of the people still focused on southern vs northern sentiments.
external image 03047v.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: The working class setting in urban cities
P: The fear of the time revolved around the job opportunities that seemed to be given specifically to certain races
A: The working class was at great risk in the opinion of the cartoonist
R: The fear of the nation was that immigrants, like asians that are stereotypically depicted in the cartoon, were taking the place in jobs.
T: The picture of the people eating each other shows jobs being replaced by others and the chinese men were working in the railroads.
S: These fears and high emotions would foreshadow the immigrant quota acts that would ban immigration into america
monopolystake.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: set in cities where factories and work is abundant
P: THe lives of the working man was being hurt by monopolies like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Carnegie
A: focused towards the working class
R: The man burning on the stake alludes to Jesus burning on the cross as a sacrifice of all of man.
T: The negative impacts of industry that was growing in leaps and bounds during the gilded age
S: after the effects of big businesses, the survival of the working man was grim and living conditions were looking down
external image painting1.jpg
A: Joseph Keppler drew the cartoon.
P: The senate and government installations was the setting
P: The robber barons were a major influence in the senate because they could fund with their abundant capital that was always at hand
A: The cartoon was focused towards the higher class who had a voice to actually make change
R: Alliances in the form of trusts and monopolies was the overwhelming majority in the time that hindered the free market
T: THis was trying to inspire acts like the Sherman Anti Trust Law to be strengthend
S: The big money bags were a large threat that challenged the democratic ideals that were no longer in place in the federal government.
external image what_are_you_laughing100.jpg
A: Thomas Nast drew the cartoon.
P: This was taken in New York where Boss Tweed had the strongest influence.
P: Boss Tweed is depicted as king mob and the cartoon was beneficial to the people who were illiterate
A: The working class and immigrants were the focus because they were at the expense of the corrupt actions of tweed.
R: THis was a sort of celebration because tweed had finally fallen from power
T: He is leaning on his boots and no longer has a crown and is dethroned. The tammany ring no longer has any strength
S: This is a sort of warning, and while it is celebrating that he is no longer in power, it is a reminder of what could happen again if influence got into the wrong hands

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5 credible sites:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html
This PBS site highlights the wide spectrum of the American experience that took place during the gilded age. it includes primary sources, time line, and films that correspond with the culture and events that occurred.
http://gildedage.net/
This site compares the experiences of men and women and the culture that was prevalent in both the north and south
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm
The site has an online textbook, and many primary sources and active learning that has online lectures and music of the time.
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-robber-barons-and-the-real-gilded-age/
This site contains many articles and blogs that relate to the struggles of the time and the effects of the influence of the robber barons.
http://www.academicamerican.com/recongildedage/index.html
This site puts the time period in perspective by comparing to the other decades like the civil war, reconstruction, and progressive era that preluded and followed the gilded age.

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FRQ:

1. “Although the economic growth of the US between 1860 and 1900 has been attributed to a governmental policy of laissez-faire, it was in fact encouraged and sustained by direct government intervention."
Assess the validity of this.

2. Although the economic development of the Trans-Mississippi west is popularly associated with hardy individualism, it was in fact large dependent on the federal government.
Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to western economic activities in the nineteenth century.

3. Compare and contrast the attitudes of THREE of the following toward the wealth that was created in the US during the late nineteenth century.

Andrew Carnegie

Eugene V. Debs

Horatio Alger

Booker T. Washington

Ida M. Tarbell

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Video Clips:


APUSH Gilded Age (1878-1889) Gangsta Rap

Urbanization in the Gilded Age


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